The family cat investigates one of three tiger cubs being nursed by a dog owned by zoo veterinarian Natalia Stepanova in Sochi, Russia. When the cubs were abandoned by their birth mother at the Oktyabrsky Zoo, Stepanova's bitch, who had just had her own litter, readily adopted them.

The odd man out of a litter of puppies tries to join the club - butt first - in Sochi, Russia. The tiger cub and two siblings were adopted by the puppies' mother, a Swiss shepherd, after their birth mother neglected them.

Can I bunk with you guys? The odd man out of a litter of puppies... Photo-3849006.53496 - SFGate

Image 3 of 24

Her hero:

Bay City Police Officer Leslie Darrow hands gifts to be wrapped to Kylee Lindner, 6, during Shop with a Hero day at a Meijer store in Monitor Township, Mich. Meijer paired Kylee and 31 other underprivileged children with Genesee County emergency responders for the event and gave each child a $100 gift card.

On command, Topper puts his paws on the counter as an autistic boy named Sawyer Hamilton checks out books at the library in Spanish Fork, Utah. Service dogs like Topper have helped Josh's mental development, and now he reads above grade level.

An Afghan refugee boy sits with two women of his family at the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees registration center outside Peshawar, Pakistan. They are returning to their home country after living for years in Pakistan during Afghanistan's civil war and Taliban rule.

in a part of Mazar-i-Sharif that once was the ancient city of Balkh. Once known as the "mother of cities," Balkh was a popular destination along the ancient Silk Route. Genghis Khan destroyed the city during his rule, but its ruins remain a tourist attraction today.

Seventy-year-old Martine Fokkens prepares for work behind her window in the wallen of Amsterdam. She and her twin, Louise, the "Queens of the Wallen," are the city's oldest prostitutes, having worked for 50 years in the red-light-district.

Bitter end to her business: Ruth Nicolaci hugs her son,... Photo-3853797.53496 - SFGate

Image 20 of 24

Taboola Gallery Frame Item-85307.53496 - SFGate

Image 21 of 24

We'll leave the lights on:

A composite NASA image assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in April and October shows the United States at night. The image was made possible by the new satellite’s "day-night band" of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe dim signals such as city lights, gas flares, auroras, wildfires and reflected moonlight.